raining hate, bleeding tears
by alex the bordercollie
Summary: He could remember the day he first saw her, the day he was born. He was cold and wet and frightened. It is unnatural for one to be born with the mind of a grown man, you are left forever feeling as though you have forgotten something
1. prolog

Prolog

M-A-R-I-A_

That name. Alone in the endless darkness, the black sea of semi consciousness, every now and again a word or two would flicker through his mind. The ramblings of a mad man, whispers in his ear through brief flashes of glowing green symbols, like words on a computer screen. They would come and go. Passing by in less than an instant, barley giving him time to register their existence. Like fleeting thoughts that pass through your mind but do not stop so that you may grasp them. And yet… he knew every word that had passed by, over the years of swimming in the abyss. He never once forgot the words that were uttered to him as he slept. But of all the things he was told in his sleep, one word still rang though with the most vivid clarity which set it apart from all other words.

He could remember Maria, a human girl he once knew. No, perhaps she was only a vague memory of a time long since past. But her image, her face, it still lingered as a comfort in this old and lonely mind. He could remember the day he first saw her, the day he was born. He was cold and wet and frightened. It is unnatural for one to be born with the mind of a grown man, you are left forever feeling as though you have forgotten something. He opened his eyes for the first time and saw her face, and was immediately struck with a strong sense of recollection. But recollection of what. He had not yet known anyone or anything. But never the less he took hold of her and a name escaped his lips, a beautiful name, not Maria, but another name, though he could have sworn it belonged to her. Then not long after taking his first breath he slipped into the darkness again, or rather for the first time. When he awoke once more he could no longer remember the name he had called her by, and when he asked those who witnessed his birth they all claimed not to remember. One man told him not to worry, it was likely nothing more than meaningless babble, like that of an infant. Perhaps, perhaps it was of no real importance, but to this day it still bothered him that he could not remember it. He had learned Maria to be synonymous with it.

But now Maria carried a much more sinister meaning. It was no longer merely a word synonymous with a name he could no longer remember. But a call to action. Revenge was soon at hand, he was the only piece left still to fall into place. As he regained full consciousness he became aware of the wires that bound him like ropes inside his smooth metal cage. It was freezing and the wires penetrated his skin. Suddenly a gust of warm air came in as the front of the capsule that had held him prisoner for so long swung open. Not stopping to think, he lunged at this new chance at freedom. The wires stung as they tore from his skin, taking bits of fur and cloth with them. "and now" called a voice "I give you the most powerful weapon on Mobius". Now freed from his cage he knelt on the floor freezing, starving, and stiff. His eyes had yet to open. He had become so accustomed to darkness he hadn't noticed. And now as he heard this new voice. He opened them, for the first time in a long time, to see the man who had spoken, the man who had freed him. It was disorienting for a moment, the light, he had almost forgotten what it was like to see with your eyes, the real physical world. Standing above him behind a control terminal, stood a large man, with a familiar face, and next to him, a younger woman, with fair hair and dark skin. The man turned from the girl to meet his newly found gaze. "welcome back shadow"

"indeed". Shadow. That was his name.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter one

Shadow's predecessor

"What did you do to him!"

"What do you mean, the little bastard attacked me!"

For a moment all the sounds in the room seemed to blend together in a blur, his head was pounding and he could swear he could smell burning hair. "Uhg" he groaned forcing himself into consciousness. "Shadow, you're awake, are you ok"

"ya I'm fine"

Maria walked over to his cage and slipped her hand through the bars, she stroked his head gently. He enjoyed her touch, it was gentle, familiar. He sat upright and took in the all too familiar setting. This wasn't the first time he'd been caged. "Shadow how many times did he shock you?" she said her voice becoming very serious. A good ten feet from his cadge stood DR. Miles Richard, a stringent man, far too young and far too religious for his profession, but none the less he was considered by most to be a child prodigy when it came to bio-mechanics. He was tall, granted he was human and humans were usually tall by Mobian standers, at six foot two he towered over Shadow who was only five' one. He had short blond hair blue eyes and small bit of stubble on his chin. Shadow often clashed with this man, this was only one of the many times he had provoked Miles to the point of electrocuting him into submission, and now he saw a perfect opportunity to get back at him.

Placing his hand on his forehead and mustering the most pathetic moan he could manage "oh I don't' know I lost track after thirty" now of coarse this was a gross exaggeration but it got him the desired result. As expected Maria threw an all out, fit, running up and standing on point so she could be at eye level with him "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR'E DOING! YOU WANT TO GIVE HIM PERMENATE BRAIN DAMAGE!" Maria was a short blond woman, granddaughter of Shadow's creator DR. Gerald Robotnick, despite her small stature she certainly wasn't one to be pushed around by others, she stood up for herself, and in many cases Shadow, regardless of her opponent.

Shadow smiled inwardly as watched Maria chewed him out. It was always nice to watch Miles get yelled at, especially by fiery little women. "That monsters evil Maria I don't know why you keep defending him!" Maria seemed to falter, but only for a second before regaining her fire and locking a burning glare. Miles turned to leave "you know what I don't care, do what you want with him, but when the general comes don't expect my vote" and with that he left, the Arc's mechanical doors closing automatically behind him.

Maria seemed to shrink like popped balloon. The fire was gone and she stood quietly for a moment her back to Shadow. Shadow leaned forward wrapping his hands around the bars of his cage "you know I wasn't trying to hurt him, it was just…"

"You know if you get even one bad vote Shadow they'll have to reject you"

Her voice was grim. Shadow knew that. He knew that his life depended on making a good impression on judgmental people, but he didn't feel that Miles opinions were all that important "common Maria you really think they would take Miles word?" Maria spun around "you don't get it Shadow do you?" Shadow flinched slightly, he never liked being on her bad side. He was so accustom to being spoiled by her that it stung more than anything to feel her disappointed gaze.

She walked over and opened his cage. Shadow stepped out and stood up strait, at his full height, he was short compared to most humans but still taller than her. "Come with me, there's something I want you to see".

She kept quiet as she led him though the Arc, down hallways and into lower levels of the station. Eventually they came to a part of the Arc shadow had never been to before. They took an elevator down into a dark lonely room. At first it was too dark for anything to be made out. Maria went and flicked on a light switch and the room opened out in front of him. In the room lay rows of cryo-chambers. Cryogenics for those who don't know is a way of storing people or bodies for virtually ever, or however long you need them preserved. Maria headed down the hall leaving Shadow to wander and inspect the contents of the various chambers. To the side he saw and old robot collapsed in a corner, the robot had the words "Shadow model-1" stamped onto its forehead. He wandered a bit farther, the chambers were labeled similarly. Each one containing Mobians of eerie resemblance to Shadow. Some of them suffered hideous deformities others seemed more in tacked. He walked up to a chamber marked "Shadow model-5" this one had orange stripes rather that Shadows red ones, but seemed the closest to Shadow in appearance. As he looked closer he saw to bullet holes in the creatures head that made his skin crawl "Maria?"

"Oh that, that's number five, to this day no one really knows what happened to him, he wouldn't speak, wouldn't respond to us at all, he kept showing aggression towards anyone that went near, eventually he got out and nearly killed everyone on the Arc if it hadn't been for Miles"

Shadow gulped "Miles did that, didn't know he was such a crack shot" he chuckled nervously. Maria seemed uninterested as she turned away. It took a moment for Shadow to realize she was gone again, "w-wait for me". After a moment he found her again standing in front of one of the chambers. Shadow looked up at its contents. "HOLLY SHIT!" he jumped back, the creature before him seemed to be missing a pair of eyes, instead two empty black holes stared back at him " what happened to him!" Maria shook her head "he has eyes Shadow their just closed". Shadow looked closer. Sure enough the creature had eyes but they were small and set miles back in his skull, giving the illusion of their non existence.

"We used to call him Hollow" she said. Shadow looked at the chambers label, it said "shadow model-13" this one had come just before him. Shadow was number 14. "I can see why" he said "it looks like he's got holes in his head". Maria seemed to tense up next to him "he could see you know, there wasn't anything wrong with him…" Shadow looked at her curiously "then why was he rejected"

Maria seemed to tear up "because he didn't want to fight". You see the Shadow project was an attempt on behalf of the human military to create a weapon that would win them the war with the Mobians that raged on the planet's surface just below the Arc. "he refused to be the militaries attack dog, so my grandfather decided not to hand him over to the general, he made up a story about Hollow having overload problems and Hollow was locked up with the rest of the rejects" shadow mused over this for a moment. The monster that refused to kill… he had no qualms with the idea of killing, or did he? He had never thought of it. All of that aside, valuing life seemed like a ridiculous reason to be locked away like you were a mistake of your maker. He looked back over to Maria to see she was crying now. Silently, but she was. "Maria…"

"Don't you see, I've had to watch too many of you be put to sleep" she turned to look him in the eyes. He hated that. Those big blue eyes so full of hurt, it took all he had not to flinch. "I don't want to see that happen to you to"

"I promise I'll be on my best behavior from now on, just don't, don't look at me like that, please"

Maria seemed satisfied. She left, and for a long while, what seemed like hours, Shadow sat on the floor staring up at his predecessor. What was Hollow like, he wondered. Was he like Shadow, or maybe they were two completely different souls. He sat and thought about what it would have been like to know Hollow. After awhile he had a lovely fantasy weaved, he felt as if he already had some immense connection to this man he had never met. Then suddenly another thought dawned on him, what if, what if Maria may have loved him…. What if? What if she had, she obviously missed him. It seemed to make her so sad to think of him. All these what ifs danced in his mind until he feared they would drive him mad. He stood up before the capsule "perhaps I should just let you tell me…" and with that he reached for the control terminal. "My predecessor my brother, perhaps it's time we met".


End file.
